Binding 13

"I know," I grumbled. "That's what I said."

"So, you disappeared out of school with Sha

"Maybe," I bit out.

"Did you do anything besides drop her home?"

"Like what?"

"I don’t know." He shrugged. "Invite yourself in for tea or some typical Joh

I dropped my head.

"Bulldozing," Gibsie laughed.

"Shut up," I muttered, pushing away from my desk.

I was done for the night.

Whatever concentration I had was long gone now.

"That's an A- right there," I told him, gesturing to his neatly written five-page essay. "Be fucking thankful."

"I am thankful," he assured me with a beaming smile before saying, "and I think you need to revisit the friend notion. I told you this morning and I'm telling you again, that it will never work."

"Nope." I shook my head. "You're wrong. I can do the friend thing."

"You clearly can't," Gibsie snickered. "Loverboy."

"I helped her today," I bit out, tensing. "That's what friends do for friends."

"By the way, Robbie Mac asked me if I could get her number off Claire for him during lunch," Gibsie stated in an impassive tone. Pulling himself up to rest on his elbows, he looked at me and added, "Said he'd love to take little Sha

"I hope you set that fucker straight!" I hissed. "Gibs, you better not have given that eejit her number."

He flopped back down on the bed and laughed. "I'm messing with you. Robbie's not suicidal. All the lads heard you loud and clear that day, Cap."

I glared at him. "That's not fu

"It's hilarious," he snickered. "You're a lost cause to that girl." Gri

"I'm not –" Pausing, I pinched the bridge of my nose and called on every ounce of patience inside of me before continuing, "I am not going there with her, and my cock and balls are my own damn business."

"I'm only looking out for you," Gibsie replied. "Oh, I almost forgot –" He shoved a hand into his jeans pocket and retrieved a travel sized bottle. "Here," he said, tossing the bottle across the room at me. "From my balls to yours."

I caught it mid-air and read the description on the bottle.

"Lube?" I barked. "Jesus, Gibs."

"Hey – don’t knock it until you try it," he scoffed. "I went to a huge fucking effort combing a dozen different chemists to get that for you." Waggling his brows, he added, "The pharmacist told me it's sensitive touch."

I stared at him. "It's half empty."

He shrugged. "I had to test it before I could recommend it to you."

I immediately dropped the bottle on my bedroom floor.

"You are fucking disgusting," I groaned, wiping my hands on my thighs. "Christ."

"Don’t be a prude," Gibsie chuckled. "It's perfectly normal."

"Lube is normal," I agreed. "You, on the other hand, are not."

"I don’t see what the problem is," he huffed. "I bought you a present. There's nothing weird about that. You should be thanking me for taking an interest in your life."

"Lad, you just bought my dick a present," I deadpa

"Whatever, lad." He shrugged, unaffected. "I don’t care what anyone thinks."

"Yeah, Gibs," I replied. "I think we've established that."

"But do you know who will care?" he mused, gri

"She's not my Sha

"And she never will be if you don’t sort your fucking problem out!" he countered.

Jesus Christ…

"Nothing's changed," I said in as patient a tone as I could muster. "I can't, won't, and will never go there."

Lies.

Lies.

Lies.

My best friend stared at me for a long moment before asking, "Are you sure about that, Joh

Not even a little bit.

"Absolutely."

"Suit yourself," Gibsie shot back.

"Thank you."

"But just so you know?" he added, "She's always been your Sha